The Boy With Two Shadows by Margaret Mahy is an imaginative story that will engage readers big and small. See what our kid reviewers and their mum thought about The Boy With Two Shadows below ⬇️
There once was a little boy who took great care of his shadow …
One day a witch notices the care he has for his shadow and asks him to look after her shadow while she goes away on holiday. But minding a witch’s shadow turns out to be more complicated than the boy ever imagined! Discover a magical and mischievous story about a boy, a witch, and one cheeky shadow. From the celebrated children’s writer Margaret Mahy and award-winning illustrator Sarah Greig.
Aria, Jaxon and their mum review The Boy With Two Shadows
It’s not always easy to find a bedtime story that will interest both of my kids (ages 4 and 7) but The Boy With Two Shadows intrigued both of them for different reasons and made for a very entertaining evening read.
The story is about a very careful little boy who looks after his shadow because he knows it’s the only one he’ll ever have.
The care he takes with his shadow is noticed by a witch who asks him if he will also take good care of her shadow while she goes away on holiday. He’s a bit too afraid to say no to the witch so ends up with her shadow attaching itself to him while she zooms off on her broom. This is where the trouble starts – the witch’s shadow is very mischievous and creates havoc for the little boy who is usually so responsible and cautious. The naughty shadow makes things all higgledy-piggledy by switching shadows of other animals and objects, or stealing other shadows altogether. The boy does his best to keep the witch’s shadow contained but all her trouble-making ends up scaring away his own shadow so that he is left with a shadow that isn’t his at all!
He misses his shadow terribly and as soon as the witch lets him know that she has returned from holiday he manages to drag her wicked shadow back to reattach itself to her. To thank him for taking care of her shadow, she gives him a magical sausage roll – but he is still without his own shadow. The end of the story is very sweet, as he tries to find his own shadow and manages to think of a clever way that the magical sausage roll can help him out with his Book Dress Up Day at school.
The kids loved the bright, colourful illustrations and they found the concept of having more than one shadow quite funny. We talked about the kinds of things a naughty shadow might get up to that your own shadow wouldn’t and it opened up a very interesting conversation where they both had to use their imaginations to think of some possible shadow antics. We had some real laugh out loud moments with this book and the chats we had afterwards – a really fun book if you’re looking for a different kind of story to entertain your little ones, and one I would highly recommend!
Grab your copy of The Boy With Two Shadows now, just in time for Christmas!
See more
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.